SHE should not have been allowed to run in the first place.
In December 2019, the Commission on Elections has declared her not a resident for at least one year of Barangay Dila in the town of Bay in Laguna, the residency requirement to run for an elective position.
Last December 2021, the COMELEC in an en banc decision reversed the previous verdict by the poll body’s First Division which acted against a petition filed in November of 2018 to disqualify her from running for House of Representatives seat, representing the 2nd District of Laguna.
In the en banc decision, the COMELEC said that Ruth Mariano-Hernandez did not have the required one-year residency qualification to run for a House seat.
But by the time COMELEC came out with its en banc decision, Hernandez was already inducted into the rolls of the House of Representative, and jurisdiction on her case would now sit with the House of Representatives Election Tribunal (HRET).
According to the COMELEC en banc, the First Division’s decision should have been reversed and Hernandez’s Certificate of Candidacy (COC) should have been canceled.
However, since it is now for the proper court to decide, the Motion for Reconsideration was denied merely for lack of jurisdiction.
Failure to comply
The case was brought to the HRET, resulting in Hernandez filing a Demurrer to Evidence which was denied by the HRET, reportedly “because evidence against Hernandez was sufficient to establish that she failed to comply with the one-year residency requirement.”
By the end of last year, 2021, the disqualification case was submitted for resolution after the parties’ filing of their respective memoranda last December.
Big injustice
Political observers describe this delay in removing unqualified but elected officials as a big injustice not only to the losing candidate but more importantly to the people that the office is pledged to serve.
They say Hernandez is one lucky lady, using technicalities and weaknesses in the system in capturing a very important position in government.
As it is, this is an injustice to the people who got deceived by a lie that she had all the necessary qualifications and none of the disqualifications for the position, however, because of those lies the 2nd District of Laguna has become an unlucky locality.
Experts explain the reason for one-year residency is a requirement to qualify to run for an elective position is to give comfort to the voters, that they are electing a leader that has knowledge and is immersed in the life of the local, both good and bad, and for the bad to be acted upon.
The same experts claim that Hernandez’s district is a good example of a place where effective leadership to improve quality of life has been anemic.
Traffic concerns
Case in point is traffic in that part of the province.
The local governments in that district are doing their best to improve traffic flow but run out of steam for lack of support from national government which a good congressman could effectively handle.
But Hernandez is not exactly zero on performance.
Her website says she has filed as principal author tens of House Bills, first in the list being HBO 2614 intended to increase bed capacity of Bay District Hospital.
She has also been very active in the distribution of "Nutrinapay," anti-flu and anti-pneumonia vaccines even when her district continues to suffer malnutrition, high unemployment and poverty.
Not her but Chipeco
On road congestion, it is the congressman of Calamba City that has gone to the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to find solution to the traffic jams.
In the meeting at the TRB, Rep. Timmy Chipeco was candid enough to explain that traffic congestion is causing delay in economic development in the city, Calamba City sits in the middle of the second congressional district but has its own representation in Congress.
Chipeco explained said if and when traffic congestion is solved in the Los Banos area, economic development will improve and more jobs will be created as investors will surely move into the area.
Traffic congestion in Los Banos spills down to Calamba City.
Dubious eligibility
In the 2019 elections, despite her dubious eligibility Hernandez ran and won against five other candidates to represent Laguna’s second district, which comprises of the city of Cabuyao and the towns of Los Baños and Bay.
Her opponents then were former Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Efraim Genuino; former Cabuyao Mayor Isidro “Jun” Hemedes Jr.; and independent candidates Tirso Laviña, Jaime Caringal and Rosauro Revilla.
In this year’s polls, she will have a return bout against Genuino.
It is imperative therefore that the people of 2nd District should have known by now that proper rules must be observed and only those that are most deserving among all the candidates must be elected into office.
After all, the future of their district lies in the hands of these elected officials who should be deserving of their positions in the first place.